The experts have spoken: who to watch out for at the PUBG Invitational at IEM Katowice

Do you have your favorites for the tournament? See what two of our experts and current pro players have to say about the competing teams.

The PUBG Invitational at IEM Katowice is just around the corner as top teams from around the world ready themselves to battle it out for glory and a share of the US$50,000 prize pool. With 16 teams competing, we have one intense tournament ahead of us. We asked our two experts and pro players, Scoom and Avnqr, for their predictions, favorites, and more.

Scoom

Which three teams are your favorite to take the event and why?

FaZe Clan

Vitality

Kinguin

FaZe Clan

Individual talent and teamwork is above most of the teams. Everyone in FaZe is a big fragger or clutcher.

The way they move around the map and rotate, they take their macro play very smart, in taking each circle step by step. They value the importance of having 4 players so they do as much as possible to avoid sending 1 player alone unless it's necessary.

Their consistency. Ever since they formed, they have been at the top of every online league there has been, only really getting contested by Evolve aka aAa now Vitality. Leading up to IEM Oakland, FaZe were the clear favorites closely followed by Vitality. Since then FaZe has been in a better form than Vitality, also coming in 2nd place in the Korean OGN Tournament, whilst playing TPP ( that they haven't played in ages + uncompetitive circles) Just proving how strong this team really is.

Vitality

No-brainer. Previous IEM winners. Consistency of their performances online makes them a top 3 in this event for me. Although they haven't been in their top form recently, I think they will show what they are made of again at Katowice.

Their style of play has always been very unique, back when teams were rushing compounds in the middle, Vitality took a more safer approach, playing kinda hill-edgy style. They highly valued their team fights.

Kinguin

Although in my books not one of the strongest roster on paper, the way they have been playing recently makes them a top 3 team at this event. They have been performing extremely well online recently.

PUBGs current meta in competitive play is seeing a lot more teams splitting up across the map. Some teams seem to run into issues with this strategy but Kinguin is the most successful team in doing so, and it obviously shows in their performance. They have been running 2+2 splits early on in the game for quite some time now, so they are extremely practiced with this and I believe this will give them the edge at IEM Katowice over other teams.

Which team is your dark horse of the event and why?

Avangar

Avangar is a team that I feel will be the dark horse of the tournament. When in good form, they can have one of the best performances in the world. But one issue with this team is their consistency, even though when in form they can match teams like Vitality/FaZe. The thing they miss compared to these teams is consistency. They sometimes do really well, then fall really short.

If Avangar bring in their A-game to Katowice, I can see them doing extremely well vs the other teams and come out at top 3.

They love being an aggressive team, when they do well you always see them getting a lot of kills, but this aggressive style sometimes hurts them. I don't think having a safer approach will benefit them, just gotta hope they make the right choices and timings ;)

What are you looking forward to at the event?

One thing for sure is the new circles being played at IEM Katowice. The western scene have made changes to the circles so they are now a bit more competitive, bigger circle sizes on shrinks + slow blue circle movement. This makes it much better for teams to rotate/fight and causes more fluidity and skill instead of rushing to the next circle. I will be curious to see how the Asian scene adapts into both FPP + these circle settings.

Avnqr

Which three teams are your favorite to take the event and why?

I think we will see both Vitality and FaZe in the top 3 by the end of the event. Both of the teams are extremely consistent and if they both hit a good day they will be in the top.

The 3rd top team is very hard to predict. My prediction is Avangar since they are also very consistent and very confident when playing.

Which team is your dark horse of the event and why?

The dark horse for this event for me is KSV - they play with early rotation and aggressive playstyle and aren't afraid to move with almost no gear or weapons.

What are you looking forward to at the event?

I am looking very much forward to see the first game because this is the first time we see teams from all the different regions play together. It will be interesting to see where the teams drop and how the Asians will adapt to FPP. As one of the first tournaments on the full game version, we will learn a lot about different approaches and styles for the early game as well as the rotations.

Intel® Extreme Masters is the longest running global pro gaming tour in the world. Started in 2006 by
ESL, the competition features Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, StarCraft II and League of Legends tournaments
across multiple continents.